College of Charleston Top Questions

There are tons of clubs and teams at C of C. There is no football team, which can deter some people, but students get pretty excited about basketball season. Charleston is known as a party school, and I'd say that is pretty accurate. Not everyone parties all the time, mind you, but you can always find a party if you want to.

Sororities and Fraternities are popular, but they are only something like 12{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}, so you definitely don't have to be in one to make friends. The religious clubs are popular as well as the intramural athletic clubs. I'm on the Crew team, which is a blast. It's such a unique sport that a lot of people don't know about and it helps keep those pounds off in college! I was in Buist Dorms last year, where everyone leaves there doors open and every one got a long really well and knew everyone... however... I've heard that that is really the only dorm that does that. Unfortunately I've heard that Berry, especially, has it's share of unfriendly girls. McAllister is pretty social though. Some people party 7 days a week. There's a fair share that only party on the weekends, and there's also a fair amount that don't party at all. If I was awake at 2am on a Tuesday though, I'd be in the library... otherwise there woudl be no reason for me to be up and I would be in bed! Off campus, you can see movies and go shopping in Mt. Pleasant. There's a few bowling alleys in town as well. I've spent many night with my friends walking around town, to the battery, or watching a movie, or playing charades... etc. There's so much to do! and the city has some things every once in a while as well... like around christmas time.

Greek life is a very big party of campus so it is somewhat difficult to meet people if you are not involved with that. In Berry, the freshman girls dorm that was converted from a hotel, the doors of the suites are so spread out that noone hardly even knows there neighbors and noone ever left their doors open for people to introduce themselves like you would find in most college dorms. Upperclassmen dorms are the same way. There are a lot of activities that are planned for students for free, like once a week there is an ice skating night out in North Charleston, and there are also midnight bowling nights and new movies in the auditorium.

The first week of my freshman year there was this casino night that CAB (student activities group) put on, and of course when I was moving in my parents saw the flyers for it and told me I should go. Im an out of state student so I didn't know anybody and couldn't think of a more torturous or loser like thing to do than go to a game night (games usually require more than one person) by myself. When Friday night rolled around and I was sitting in my room all unpacked and nothing left to do, I thought "why not? If I don't know anybody, there are probably other people who don't know anybody." So i convinced myself to go. I was walking on my way there, standing on the corner of St. Phillips and Calhoun St, waiting for the lights to change when a girl standing next to me introduced herself and her roomate. They both lived in the same dorm as me and were also going to the casino night. When we got there we realized that we didn't know any of the card games they were playing so we sat down at our own table and started playing go-fish (mush less complicated than poker). Eventually other girls who didn't know how to play the casino games joined in on our go-fish. At the end of the night they had an auction where we got to bid on things with the chips we won and since none of us had one any chips we joined our starting chips together to try and bid on something. So there we were 6 girls, all from different places, already acting like life-long friends. It turned out that 2 of those girls have ended up being my best friends, and we do almost everything together. I really recomend stepping out of your comfort zone while at college and do things you never would have done otherwise, no matter how foolish they may seem. It may seem ridiculous to go swimming in a fountain with 2 guys you've never met before, but as i know from personal experience, those 2 guys can turn out to be a handful of fun (even if they are in the Navy).

Sororities and Frats are defiantly huge at Charleston. Sports events, that take place in the downtown area are also pretty fun to goto, and usually they will get a big crowd. I play for the soccer team, and our practice is out in Mount Pleasant, along with our games, and it is hard for people to get to, so we dont get as many people coming out to see us play. If your a guy at Charleston you defiantly love your life when it comes to girls. There are so many gorgeous women at Charleston that it is not hard for a guy to find one. I met my closest friends through soccer and my dorm. Charleston doesnt have its party reputation for just some silly reason. Even if it is a sunday or monday night, you can still count on people going to the bars and having a great time.

I met my closest friends in my dorm, my roommate and my next-door neighbor. I lived in Buist which is hall-style, and everyone left their doors open all the time. Sororities and fraternities are around, but besides Rush season, they don't really dominate the campus. There are some people who party 24/7 but the average CofC student's weekend goes from Thursday to Sunday.

The basketball team is pretty popular on campus (especially since we'll have a new arena for next season). The dating scene is great! A guy (like me) can (or has) choose any type of female companionship of different color, shape, background, or major. I especially love the guy to girl ratio at the college. Frats and Sororities are not that important.... Saturday nights can be filled with dancing, a historic tour, the beach, shopping, dining, a movie in Marion Square, or just a pleasant walk in Waterfront Park. I love downtown. I live off campus.

As with academics, you can really choose how much or how little you want to do here. I have friends who have never joined a club at all, and others who do nothing else. We have a lot of great stuff to choose from; sports (but no football), Greek life, activist groups, etc. The dating scene is TERRIBLE; our male/female ratio is overwhelming female.

greek life is really popular here. go greek!!

Being form South Carolina, everyone knows when someone is a Clemson fan because the main color in their wardrobe is orange. When it comes to CofC pride it just not that intense. We do not have a football team, so the school pride experienced through tailgating is simply not there. The basketball games are popular and the school even provides busing to away games. There is a "sorority row" and "fraternity way" that take up two streets that are also populated by campus housing, classrooms and off campus housing. During "derby days", a popular sorority event it can get a little loud on campus but nothing too bad at all.